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Trainer Card & Holosheet Tutorials

Trainer Card Tutorial

NOTE: All Credit Goes to Fangking Omega.

Fang is known for his Hidden Legends tutorial. Fang was asked to make a Trainer tutorial to go with it. Fang did.

It has been a joint effort between Zeo's Elite 4 Master and myself to create this wonderful guide towards making the perfect Advance Trainer card. This tutorial IS adapted for Photoshop (and generally versions 6.0+) as usual, but any program with width altering prowess is acceptable.

Opening notes; fonts used are instead Humanist instead of the usual Gill Sans. Humanist is easily obtainable from PPN right under the accessories section and (I found) it is more adaptable to Trainer cards than Gill Sans due to some sizing issues. Gill Sans would be acceptable, but a lot of the widths would be different, so I suggest the use of Humanist in this case.

I've been a bit minimalist on images because this is relatively easier than a Pok&#233;mon card.

Setting width is as usual for Photoshop users. Go to the Window menu, select Show Character and use the box to set width.

Setting justification is something of an irritation to many, but again I will explain how to do it. First, draw a text box by dragging the Text tool rather than just clicking. Then, go to the Window menu, select Show Paragraph and use THIS button;

Figure 0

After that, type away. Don’t ever use the return key. Ever.

We shall start as usual with the trainer’s name. The font to use is Humanist Condensed Bold at a wonderful size 22, and the width is a curious 102%. To align it, look at the dark grey edge of the image border (a thin strip that progressively gets narrower). It goes 3 pixels from the RIGHT edge of this, and goes 4 pixels above the top edge of the image border.

Figure 1

Then we can do the Trainer “type”. Is it a Supporter, Pok&#233;mon Tool, Stadium, Technical Machine or Rocket’s Secret Machine? If it is just a standard trainer, skip this section.

This time, the font is Humanist Italic, size 14 at 104% width. It goes 6 pixels up from the top of the light grey box, it isn’t QUITE aligned with the circles. At the right side, get it so the bottom right of the text is in line with the top right corner of the very same light box. See Fig 1 again.

Now onto my least favourite part; the trainer effect and ruling box. Horizontally, draw the text box so there are margins of 27 pixels on either side. Vertically, it is exactly central so determine this once you’ve typed out the effect/rule. Apply JUSTIFICATION, explained earlier.

Figure 2

For a specific ruling, the font size is very fussy. Humanist Regular/Roman size 12.45 at 95% width. Line Spacing (determined on the character box, usually above the width setting) should be size 13.

The rulings are here, courtesy of E4M

Stadium
This card stays in play when you play it. Discard this card if another Stadium card comes into play.

Supporter
You can play only 1 Supporter card each turn. When you play this card, put it next to your Active Pok&#233;mon. When your turn ends, discard this card.

Pok&#233;mon Tool
Attach (Pok&#233;mon Tool Name) to 1 of your Pok&#233;mon that doesn’t already have a Pok&#233;mon Tool attached to it. If that Pok&#233;mon is Knocked Out, discard this card.

Technical Machine
Attach this card to 1 of your Evolved Pok&#233;mon (excluding Pok&#233;mon-ex and Pok&#233;mon that has an owner in its name) in play. That Pok&#233;mon may use this card’s attack instead of its own. At then end of your turn, discard (name of Technical Machine).

Rocket’s Secret Machine
No special ruling

KthxE4M

Now move onto your trainer’s effect. It can really be any size up to size 16, Humanist Roman/Regular, 95% width, line spacing set to 1 size greater than the size of the font. Shrink the font size accordingly.

(E4M’s little bit) The Illus. is just like in a Pok&#233;mon card. Futura LT Medium Italic at size 7, 100% width is normal, but on a Trainer card, the Illus. is lined up with the white box where the Trainer description goes. The Illus. line is 3 pixels from the top of the Trainer description box, and now you have given the illustrator credit! KthxE4M.

The rest is very similar to a standard Pok&#233;mon card, thus no images.

(E4M’s little bit) Rarity symbol is 20 pixels to the left of the inside of the right side of the border and keep it lined up with the Nintendo/Pok&#233;mon Copyright text. The card for the set number is just like the Illus; Futura LT Medium Bold Italic, size 7, 100% width. Just like the rarity symbol, keep it on the same level as the Nintendo/Pok&#233;mon line and it goes 3 pixels left of the rarity symbol. KthxE4M

The 9 digit ID is Futura LT Medium Regular, size 7, 100% width. It goes 5 pixels right from the bottom left corner of the description box, kept vertically level with the copyright.

Job done OMM!

I believe we have covered everything needed for a perfect trainer. If you’re using Classic Advance (which is less used these days) then only the 9 digit ID and set symbol should change location, but they are relatively similar. Use HL, it’s easier =P

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via PM, email, or any other methods deemed necessary. Carrier Pigeons are not my favourite things.

Holosheet Tutorial

This kinda tutorial is based on the standalone Holosheet that can be used on an image that has a background already.

To teach you how to use a holosheet, I first need to know if you have Photoshop. If so, I'll explain.

First of, select all of the blank.

Then pick a selection tool (retangle by basic Pok&#233;mon) and click on the 'Substract from selection' button.

Select the white part in the border (where the illus. should come). Now you should see that the blank is totally selected, except for the white part.

Right-click on the blank and choose 'Layer via Cut'. The blank (without the white part) is now the upper layer.

Open your Pok&#233;mon image and resize it until it fits (check 'Constrain proportions' or something, in the 'Image Size' section under 'Image')
Then type for the width '325 pixels'. That would fit mostly.

Now, select the image by right-clicking it with the Pan-tool. Select the Layer that is the Image, most likely it will say 'Background' and 'Layer 2'. Choose 'Layer 2'.

Now, select the part of the Pok&#233;mon in the image with the Lasso-tool or polygonaial (something like that) or eventually, in a very clear image, the 'Magnetic Lasso'-tool.

After selecting that part (the Pok&#233;mon) there should appear a rotating accented line around it.

Right-click it and choose 'Layer via Cut'.
-----Almost finished....

Open the Standalone Holosheet

Press Ctrl+A and the whole Holosheet should be selected. Then Press Ctrl+C to copy it.

Go to the Pok&#233;mon fake card and select the Pan-tool. Rightclick on the image around the pok&#233;mon. Select 'Layer 2' (or the one other than 'Background'.

Press Ctrl+V. The Pok&#233;mon should be visible now, but the background of the Pok&#233;mon not.

Go to 'Layers'. Select the Holosheet layer (mostly Layer 4).

Go to the 'Layer'-Menu and select 'Duplicate Layer...' and choose the file of the Pok&#233;mon card on which the holosheet should be attached and press OK.

Select the upper holo-layer (Layer 4 copy or so) and set the box with 'Normal' in it to 'Multiply'.
Set the Opacity to 25%-30%.

Now select the rear holo-layer and set the 'Normal'-part to 'Color Dodge'.
Set the opacity to an amount between 80% and 100%, whatever fits the best.

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Is your holosheet guide working on the assumption that the Pokemon image and the background are part of the same layer? If they're already separate would this nullify the layer via cut stage? Also, I've tried these opacities and it doesn't seem to look right at all.